By: centraljersey.com
As of Tuesday, the Hopewell Valley High wrestling staff had limited information about Christian Kalwa’s first-round opponent in this weekend’s state finals.
There was little concern, though, because the Bulldogs’ staff already possessed one important bit of information. They know how good their man is.
The state tourney gets under way Friday night in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. Kalwa, who finished third in last weekend’s Region 5 Tournament at 140 pounds to get the region’s final berth to states in the weight class, is 27-10 and meets Rutherford’s Michael Paskas in the first round.
Kalwa is a great wrestler," Hopewell Valley coach Mario Harpel said. "I’m sure (Paskas) is good, but I don’t know much specific. It’s a Catch-22. Some people spend a lot of time looking at it, but sometimes I think you spend too much time doing that.
"We do some stuff, don’t get me wrong, and we know different styles and different kids, but at this level your head has got to be clean. If you’re thinking, you’re way behind match speed anyway. You’ve just got to be ready, have the right energy, and go out and compete. (Kalwa) has to go out and wrestle his match and see if he can grind out a victory."
Kalwa, a senior, was the Mercer County Tournament champ at 140 and was runner-up in District 17. He is making his first trip to the state tourney.
"It’s really awesome and exciting for him," Harpel said. "He really earned it with some great victories at regions. Really, he’s been great all year for us."
Kalwa, who was seeded fourth in the region, needed to pull out a 2-1 triple-overtime victory over Bishop Ahr’s John Dean in the third-place bout to get to Atlantic City. Kalwa rode out Dean in the final extra period to secure the trip.
"You can’t really top that," Harpel said. "When we got to that triple overtime period, (Dean) took down and I kind of smiled. The Bishop Ahr coach came up to me later and said he saw me smile and wanted to know what that was all about. I told him Kalwa is amazing on top, so I figured win or lose, that’s a good option for him.
"I figured we’d see how it goes. It went well."
In 2008, Hopewell Valley’s George Saliba finished fourth at 189 pounds in the state tourney and fired up the community. Harpel enjoy seeing a similar situation for Kalwa.
"Hopewell is amazing that way," Harpel said. "When George was there it seemed like half of Hopewell was in the stands. If Christian can grind out a few wins, we’ll see what happens. It’s a pretty tight wrestling family. I know there are people cheering him on and eager to see him do well."
BACKPOINTS: Zach Ortman, Mike Markulec and John deDufour each won at least one bout at the region tourney . . . Ortman, a senior who was the MCT champ at heavyweight, won twice but had the unfortunate luck of running into the top two seeds in the region. He finished 30-7. Markulec, a freshman 215-pounder, ended the season 25-12 and deDufour, a junior at 119, was 24-12."I thought it went well," Harpel said.

